


A Sickness Of The Mind

by cactus_is_writing_09



Category: Sanders Sides
Genre: Also Maybe TW For Description Of Illness, Angst, But Only For A Few Hours, Creativitwins angst, It’s Thomas’ Fault, Janus Dies, Let Me Know If I Need To Add TW For Anything Else, M/M, Mental Illness, Patton And Janus Are A Couple, Platonic creativitwins - Freeform, Sick Character, Sick Remus, Sick Virgil, TW For Mention Of Eating, The Sides Are Fading, The Volume Inside Of This Bus Is Astronomical, The orange side existed but faded away into a construct., Virgil And Logan Are A Couple, fading, sick Logan, sick Roman, virgil sanders angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:48:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26268253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cactus_is_writing_09/pseuds/cactus_is_writing_09
Summary: After Virgil complains of feeling under the weather, it’s revealed the sickness is spreading fast, can the remaining side work together to save their friends? And will Thomas be the same after?
Relationships: Janus Sanders/ Patton Sanders, Virgil Sanders/ Logan Sanders
Comments: 3
Kudos: 36





	A Sickness Of The Mind

**Author's Note:**

> This was a fun little fic I wrote when I was in an angsty mood, hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

“Virgil, kiddo. It’s all going to be okay. Try to relax.” Patron soothed, wiping the thrashing boy’s brow with a wet cloth. He ran his hand through Virgil’s damp hair nervously. His head was in Patton’s lap as he massaged his temples, trying to alleviate the migraine that had been steadily incapacitating Thomas’ weakest side.

Virgil had been feeling off for almost a week, and the past three days it had progressed violently, wrecking him. He was barely lucid anymore, and the moments of fevered consciousness he was able to manage had him in so much pain the other sides prayed he would fall asleep again quickly. Already normally ill from the constant stress and pressure he placed upon himself, the fever had caused vivid hallucinations and nightmares, making him even weaker and more susceptible to disease.

Virgil yelled again. His back arched and cracked violently before he collapsed, whimpering pitifully. “D-Dad?” He whispered hoarsely, forcing his eyes open for the first time in days. “Dad- Dad it hurts.” He weakly grabbed onto Patton’s shirt and tried to pull the older Side in. His voice lowered from a scream to soft crying and he curled up into a tight ball. “Everything hurts.” He choked.

His body was skin and bones, and he shivered in his oversized hoodie. No matter how much he was fed, he became weaker and thinner by the second. Patton could see his cheekbones through his skin, seeming as if they were trying to break free. When he lifted Virgil up to steady him during a coughing fit, he could feel every one of his ribs. Virgil was constantly shivering, always saying how cold it was despite sweating buckets.

Patton shushed him and continued to apply the cloth. “I know kiddo, it’s the fever. You’ll be better soon.” He lied, attempting to calm down the anxious Virgil. The last time he had seen a side like this- they had been fading- his heart ached as he remembered the symptoms that had started so innocently in the other side, their name now forgotten. The same symptoms now plaguing his dark strange son.

Logan walked into the room to let Patton get up and stretch his legs, after making sure Virgil was aware of the change, Patton left the living room, only to find the twins at the door. They wore mirrored expressions of fear, and bombarded him with questions.

“Is it like O?” Roman demanded at the same time Remus asked: “Will he fade away like Orpheus?” Orpheus, that had been his name. The father figure vaguely remembered the orange colour palette and shark-themed side encompassing Thomas’ Greed. The twins were holding hands, something they hadn’t done since they were children. “Padre..” Roman began. “We don’t want-“ He paused and glanced at Remus. “Him to die alone.” Remus finished, exchanging a look with his other half. 

Patton sighed and rubbed his temples, bringing the twins into the kitchen and sitting them down at the table. “We don’t know. The symptoms are the same as Orpheus’. Virgil is strong, he’ll hopefully make a full recovery.” He added quickly, noticing the twin’s looks of despair. “Our main priorities are keeping the fever down, and keeping him comfortable.” He let out a defeated sigh. “We’ll just have to wait and see.”

Janus appeared in the kitchen as Virgil’s cries swelled, the human side of his face was stained with tears and flushed from his sprint from the living room. “Come quickly. He’s looking for all of us.” He panted, flying back out of the kitchen as fast as he could.

The twins ran after the snake and Patton quickly followed, arms filled with medication and ice packs for the fever. They stopped in the doorway and gasped, the only sound in the silent room. They had expected the worst, but nothing had prepared them for what laid in front of them.

Logan sat cradling Virgil in his lap, the latter of which was slowly vanishing, his skin had become transparent, and his breaths rattled in his lungs. Logan looked up from his boyfriend, his eyes were red and puffy, and his shoulders shook with silent sobs. “I- He started to disappear, and he started screaming. He doesn’t recognize me, or Janus, or any of us..” Logan sniffled and buried his face into Virgil’s neck, his tears wetting the collar of the other side’s hoodie.

The sides felt a new presence enter the room and heard a cry of anguish from their host. Thomas had staggered over to the ill side and took Virgil from Logan, before collapsing on the couch with a grunt of pain. “My head..” he groaned, his skin rapidly paling until it was almost the same sickly white hue as the dying Virgil’s was.

Roman rushed over to the couch, and hugged Thomas, his own face growing thin. At the same time, Remus moaned and fell to his knees, hands pressed against the sides of his head. “It hurts.” He slurred, crawling over to his brother and leaning against Roman’s legs, unable to move any farther.

Logan slowly moved over to the growing group and took off his glasses, massaging the bridge of his nose. “I no longer believe this is simply an issue with Virgil, it seems to be a mental issue that is affecting all of us, apart from you two.” He winced and gestured at the last two sides standing. He gasped and wrapped his shaking hands around his chest as a wheezing cough rattled his quickly thinning frame. “Patton. Janus. If there is a way to cease this pain, find it quickly, what is that meme again? The volume, inside of this bus-“ he was cut off by another round of coughing. “-is astronomical.” Logan stammered before collapsing against Thomas’ side.

Janus turned towards Patton, his heterochromatic eyes meeting the other’s brown ones with a knowing frown. “It’s time.” He nodded, pulling his cloak tighter around him. Janus stepped in front of Patton and wriggled his fingers in his gloved hands. “You know what to do, I’ll see you in a few hours.”

Patton shook with silent sobs. “Janus.. I don’t want to hurt you. There has to be another way.” He cried, feeling a spark start on the tip of his middle finger and spread to the rest of his hand.

Janus sighed and felt his hands glow yellow, he saw the light blue glow from Patton’s hands reflect onto the pale faces of the fallen sides. “Do it Patton. I’ll be fine.” He clenched his tight and prepared for the pain that came with the healing. “Three.. two..”

“One.”

Patton yelled as energy burst through his fingers, hitting Janus and traveling through him, before enveloping the unconscious forms of his friends in a warm pink light. They had learned of this type of healing through pure accident, and had never found a need to use it until then. Patton watched Janus crumble and sink into the floor, back to the mindscape where he would be reborn. It was an extremely painful process that usually needed months of healing.

Patton cried out and collapsed to the cool wood floor, barely registering the dull pain in his side through the throbbing in his head. He closed his eyes and let the deep black void of unconsciousness take over.

Janus screamed in pain as he was put back together, his eyes burned from crying so much, and he wanted to curl up and die again, only if he didn’t have to experience that hellish torture again. He stumbled down from his room and sat beside Patton’s sleeping form, lifting the other side up into his lap and stroking his hair repeatedly to calm his racing heart. 

Patton stirred in Deceit’s arms, and sat up with a groan. His vision was blurred, and his head felt foggy. “Janus? Did we- did we do it?” He asked nervously, feeling his glasses pressed into his palm by the snake. Patton pressed the familiar frames up onto the bridge of his nose to survey the situation. Supporting each other, the oldest sides stumbled to a love seat in the living room and sat down, watching their sleeping companions.

Logan was first to wake, he gasped and doubled over into a coughing fit before slumping against the back of the couch. The logical side noticed a blue and yellow blur fly towards his face as two beings collided with him. He yelped as he registered Patton and Janus hugging him, and melted into the hug happily. “Thank you.” He rasped, clutching Janus’ hand like a lifeline.

Half an hour later, Virgil began to thrash before sitting up with a scream. He was shaking like a leaf, and his forehead was damp with sweat. Logan took him from Thomas’ grip and cuddled him tightly, whispering sweet nothings into the trembling boy’s ear. 

Thomas woke up with a start, struggling for a few minutes to free himself from under the still-sleeping twins. He fell into a chair on the other side of the room, and sat silently for a moment, before turning to the two sides that hadn’t been affected. “Patton. Janus. Thank you. You didn’t have to do that. Patton, I felt you- it was so painful I don’t know how you could stand it. Janus-“ he hiccuped. “Janus you died for us. I don’t know how I could ever repay you.” 

Janus hissed gently. “Don’t mention it. It wassss nothing I couldn’t handle.” He smiled tiredly and rested his head against Patton’s shoulder. His eyes fluttered shut for a moment before he heard two voices crying out from the couch. 

Both Janus and Patton rushed forward towards their respective twin and wrapped their arms around them, attempting to calm them down. The twins were shivering and thrashing, crying out as Virgil had. As they were held, the ones holding them realized both Roman and Remus were burning up with fever.

“Logan, grab cold compresses and the fever medication from the bathroom, Thomas, blankets, a lot of them. We’re getting this fever down now.” Janus commanded, snapping a green and red patterned blanket over the twins and laying them down together on the couch. He watched as they clasped each other, just like they had when they were sick as kids. (Though they’d never admit it.)

Virgil stood and swayed dangerously. “What can I do?” He asked, coughing dryly into his arm. He had stopped fading, but he looked barely solid. Patton grasped his wrist and lead him back down to the unoccupied side of the couch. “Just rest kiddo, you’re still weak from the- whatever that was.” Patton smiled and rubbed his thumb across Virgil’s knuckles. “You gave us quite a scare buddy.” Virgil leaned back on the couch and shooed Patton away. “Check on Janus. He looks worse than I do.”

Janus felt a soft hand on his shoulder and winced, his skin still tender from being put back together. He scratched absently at his scales, before that same soft touch began to scratch the flaking ones on his back. Janus leaned into the cool touch, hearing Patton’s soft breathing in his ear. He shifted uncomfortably and whimpered, curling into his husband. The snake heard Patton chuckle and strong arms wrapped around him.

Logan and Thomas returned with the supplies and handed them off to Patton and Janus. The two worked quickly and silently, tucking the twins under piles of blankets and pressing cold cloths to their foreheads. They roused the sleeping royalty to get them to drink the medicine, but barely got either twin to take a sip before they began to throw up. 

Remus gagged and clutched his brother tightly, shivering despite the piles of blankets covering him. He looked down at his hands and screamed as he held them up to the light, still holding onto Roman’s. Both sets of hands were barely visible, and as they faded from view, the twins began to shake harder.

“Padre. It’s the scripts.” Roman spat, coughing aggressively into his sleeve. “Thomas set up all those scripted videos months ago, and we haven’t been used since. It’s- it’s killing us.” He gasped and hugged Remus. Both twins began to silently sob, sending tremors throughout their quickly fading bodies.

Six pairs of eyes turned to the only human in the room. Thomas was sitting silently near the twins, a dark look in his eyes. “That’s what happened with Virgil too. I wasn’t anxious about the script, so I had no need for him. That means.. Logan will be next to fade if I don’t do something with my time.” He suddenly stood and squeezed his eyes shut tightly. “I’ve now given myself a mental deadline, Logan, it’s in your calendar.” He paused and walked over to the shivering twins. “Roman, Remus. Let’s write a skit.” 

Thomas rose into the real world, the rest of the sides following. The twins stood supporting each other as Thomas began writing furiously, the scratching of his pen the only noise in the otherwise silent room. The man snapped his fingers and pointed towards the nearly vanished twins. “Remus, give me a prompt for a villain.” He said quickly.

The green side frowned softly, his face growing more distressed as he let out a whine. “I- I can’t think. It hurts too much.” His legs gave out, and he fell to the ground, blood gushing from his gashed knees. Remus’ eyes widened and he sat back on his heels, an idea finally coming to him after months of dormancy. “A- An evil prince trying to take over his twin brother’s kingdom of light.” He began to stand up, colour returning to his face. “The good brother, his father, and his tutor have to fight against the evil twin, his snake, and his bodyguard.” The Duke grabbed his twin’s hand and squeezed tightly.

Roman continued the story, his form filling back out. “The Prince and the Duke meet at a large mountain to duel, swords clash, magic spells fly everywhere, and one twin emerges victorious. Dressed in grey, his face covered in a mask and his hair a raven black. For years the twin ruled both kingdoms, until finally he dies and it’s revealed- it was the evil twin all along. That’s when the townspeople learned, even evil can be good if handled the right way.” 

Thomas smiled as both of the twins were enveloped in a soft light. They emerged from the flash hand in hand, both dressed in gray like the victorious evil twin in the story. Roman still had red accents on his clothing, and Remus still had green, but they were now on the same side. No more evil twin and good twin. They were now just the twins, complete and finally reunited after years of being torn away from their other half.

Thomas stood from the kitchen table and walked towards the television, examining the clothes the twins wore. His face broke into a grin and he laughed, a warm, welcome sound that lit up the sullen mood in the room. “No more dark or light twins. You’re just, you. My creativity is reunited. Roman, you were explaining the gore and the battles, Remus, you came up with the characters and plot lines. You’re working together.” He wrapped his arms around both twins and felt them hug back. 

“I guess the lines between light and dark are fading, and that’s one disappearance I’m glad about.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I’m a new author on AO3, but I’ve been reading stories on here since 2016, so excited to be joining the community and sharing my stories with the world! I want to be an author when I get older, and am in the process of writing a book, which I hope to finish by 2026! Fanfics are my way to nerd over my favourite topics with people who have the same interests, I really hope you choose to stick around!


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